Commission threatens Poland with ‘Opinion’

The European Commission revived its long-running row with Poland’s right-wing government Wednesday, threatening to move forward with a legal procedure unless “significant improvements” are made by Monday to resolve the dispute over the country’s top constitutional court.

The Commission in January launched an unprecedented probe into whether the Law and Justice party (PiS) government broke the bloc’s democratic rules in its confrontation with the country’s Constitutional Tribunal.

Brussels has three main concerns: that three judges elected by the previous parliament haven’t been sworn in by President Andrzej Duda; that the government hasn’t obeyed the Constitutional Tribunal’s verdict that found legal changes to the way the tribunal functions were unconstitutional; and whether the tribunal is still able to rule effectively on new legislation.

The issue was taken up at the weekly meeting of all 28 commissioners, where Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s first vice president and its point-man for Poland, presented the state of play in talks with Warsaw.

The commissioners authorized him to adopt an opinion on Poland by Monday “unless significant progress is made by the Polish authorities to resolve the concerns expressed by the European Commission before that date.”

Looking for an exit

Despite months of talks with Warsaw, the Commission sees only “some limited openness” towards a solution by the Polish government, an EU source familiar with the issue told POLITICO. The hope is that “the adoption of the opinion can help concentrate minds” in Warsaw, the source said.

The revival of the Commission’s activity on Poland did provoke a flurry of response in the Polish capital.

Jarosław Kaczyński, PiS’s leader and Poland’s most powerful politician, held a meeting earlier this week looking for a solution to the stand-off. Larger opposition parties boycotted the meeting.

Kaczyński said his party was ready for a “far-reaching compromise.” But he insisted that “we will not begin these talks by capitulating” by heeding demands to publish the Constitutional Tribunal’s March verdict on the changes to the way it functions.

The government has refused to publish the verdict in the official gazette, normally the final step in making a tribunal’s decision binding. That step is being demanded both by the Commission and by opposition parties.

Kaczyński instead called for changes to the constitution, although his party doesn’t have a constitutional majority in the parliament. Other parties have shown no willingness to go along with such a project.

The stand-off is imposing rising political and economic costs on the government and on the country.

The fractious and generally ineffective opposition has united around the issue, and tens of thousands of government opponents have taken to the streets in regular protests.

Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president, pointed to Poland and Hungary in a recent speech as examples of countries moving away from democratic standards and wanting “Putin-like” leadership.

Law and Justice is still easily the most popular party in the country, but a new poll finds support for the government eroding. The survey by the CBOS organization found 32 percent of respondents backed the government, down by 6 percentage points from a month earlier.

Poland’s relations with its closest allies have also frayed over the stand-off. Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president, pointed to Poland and Hungary in a recent speech as examples of countries moving away from democratic standards and wanting “Putin-like” leadership.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange’s WIG20 blue chip index has shed 27 percent of its value over the last year, and Bloomberg calculated that the Polish stock market has seen $50 billion in market capitalization wiped out over that period.

Poland has been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s, had its rating perspective changed from stable to negative by Moody’s, and Fitch issued a note on Wednesday worrying about the government’s trajectory.

The agency noted the “more confrontational governing style since the 2015 election,” saying that protests over the Constitutional Tribunal and growing political polarization “could fuel political instability.”

Next steps

In his presentation to the other commissioners, Timmermans reminded them of the rule of law procedure launched against Poland.

If he adopts the opinion on Monday, it will be kept confidential and sent to the Polish government, which then has two weeks to respond.

If the Commission doesn’t find that answer satisfactory, it can issue a “rule of law recommendation” identifying the problem and giving the member country a fixed amount of time to resolve it.

The Commission then monitors the member’s follow-up. If that still doesn’t work, the Commission, the European Parliament or 10 member countries could launch an “Article 7 procedure,” which first issues a formal warning and then could impose sanctions and suspend a country’s EU voting rights.

That step has never happened, and it would need the unanimous backing of all countries except the member state in question. Hungary, also the subject of EU concern, has said it would block any such action against its Polish ally.

Brussels wants to signal to Poland to follow its rules, but is also worried about souring ties with the EU’s sixth-largest country.

Authors:

Related stories on these topics:

Veritas-Semper

Hate to break it to you Cienski, but your colleague Chadwick is much more talented in in the universal negative news dump category.

This looks like a rehash of a much “higher caliber” work by Chadwick.

Today, the Euro-Commissars showed a full spectrum of their empathy filled heart: they forgave the Iberian sods on their budget deficit woes, wagged their fingers at the “migrant resistors” and for good measure issued an “ultimatum” to Poland.

The fact that facts are getting in their way does not matter. Actually, the Tribunal Court Issue is making its way through Poland’s Parliament but apparently not to the liking of the Euro-Commissars.

The fact that the recent total system audit found 8 years of the Civic Platform rule as full of graft, corruption, and scandal to the tune of $100B USD, is small potatoes and not worth their attention. The fact that dozens of journalists and public figures were spied upon by the former Civic Platform government, makes no impression on the “democratically”-minded Commissars. The fact that the Lisbon Treaty makes no mention of their “right” to take a member country to task, is of no importance.

And, the fact that they are wasting their time trying to force through the “rule of law” against Poland is simply – insignificant. Their job – as they see it – is to keep wagging their fingers while “Rome”/Brussels “burn”.

“Well done Euro-Commissars, “well done”.

Posted on 5/18/16 | 7:47 PM CET

jott

@ “Veritas-Semper”, you are not a veritas. It seems that every time Politico brings a piece of news about Poland you lurk around the corner, ready to offer another display of smear and lies. Yours looks like a full-time job, with so much time invested in all this furious scribbling it is hard to assume you do it pro bono. If you are a troll, on whose payroll are you? In any case, you only gain additional minus points for the Polish rulers, so it’s pretty counterproductive, huh?

Posted on 5/18/16 | 8:07 PM CET

zoe

Every an article about Poland….meanwhile France is burning,Greece is collapsing,millions of illegal migrants fleeing into Europe,the political establishment of EU falling….and Politico is acting like nothing is happening ,and bashing Poland. and Hungary….Do not see that make yourself a fool ?

Posted on 5/18/16 | 8:14 PM CET

pol

The former mayor of London is right… THE EU IS ACTING LIKE HITLER! What’s up with making snap demands on Poland, giving less then a week to comply, without setting a timeline to follow, just out of the blue a deadline!

I hope this German union falls apart, and soon!!!

Posted on 5/18/16 | 10:04 PM CET

Jacek

Both EU and Poland will win if both work more on understanding of the situation than on prestige. Just a timely mapping of the misunderstanding chains is critical for solving of the crises in our dynamic world.

Posted on 5/18/16 | 11:00 PM CET

VT

@ jot

Hey comrade, you are everywhere as well. I guess you judge according to your “personal values”. An equal opportunity troll, are you? SO, how much are you getting for getting around? Do you get paid by the hour or word count? Do certain troll words get higher “fees”?

And, as long as you are at it, which facts are not facts? Try to be precise when you post your opinions, comrade.

And finally, I sense a bit of frustration on your part that Veritas-Semper may be getting paid and doing a “lousy job” at the same time. I feel for you, comrade… maybe a different kind of line of work on your end is in order, eh comrade?

Posted on 5/18/16 | 11:01 PM CET

jott

@ VT – you seem to be quite conversant with payment methods for trolling work! Well, I am not, so I learned something new thanks to your reaction. Don’t call me comrade – I am not your comrade, and I certainly am against such a status; so go and seek your comrades elsewhere.

Posted on 5/18/16 | 11:49 PM CET

VT

@jot

So sorry I stepped on your feelings, comrade or is it …tovarish? I keep forgetting that comrades/tovarishe have feelings, too. They are just “different”, that’s all.

At least, I’m certainly glad that you got something useful out of this exchange, it should help soothe your raw feelings, comrade.

Posted on 5/19/16 | 12:08 AM CET

Ben B.

A piece on Poland would be incomplete without a furious rant from “Veritas-Semper” and some assorted PiS-trolls. 😉

Posted on 5/19/16 | 8:04 AM CET

TAK

Dear Ben B.
Maybe it happens because all articles in Politico about situation in Poland are written by PO-trolls?
Show me even one article in Politico which clearly explains new Polish government point of view and really informs why PiS and Mr. Duda won last two elections.
Best regards from sunny Warsaw.

Posted on 5/19/16 | 9:02 AM CET

VT

@ TAK

Precisely! Thumbs up, brother.

Posted on 5/19/16 | 11:41 AM CET

VT

Perhaps a rational comment from the Big Apple can calm the waters stirred by Politico…

akul

Bill Clinton has discovered new “axis of evil”; Poland – Hungary – Donald Trump.
All the better for Poland if Mr Trump wins!

Posted on 5/19/16 | 3:03 PM CET

alexanderm

I generally don’t read these articles anymore but enjoy scrolling down to the comments to read what the PiSs-heads who also didn’t read the article have to say. They bring that US level of trolling

Posted on 5/19/16 | 5:30 PM CET

VT

@ alexanderm

I fully understand your need see if the ‘PiS-trolls’ have become competitive. The extremely “high ethical and meritorious standards” found on the infamous “waiter tapes” which sunk PO in the last 2 elections are extremely, extremely difficult to replicate.

Those extremely high “standards” right from the top of PO are simply overwhelming and put all “PiS-trolling” to shame.

Posted on 5/19/16 | 6:20 PM CET

dudu

the audit of the current ? that does make it credible

Posted on 5/19/16 | 6:45 PM CET

steve handsome

“That provoked a furious response from Poland, with Kaczyński suggesting Clinton seek medical attention.” bullsh*t, soft joke is not furious response, and he was speaking in general about opposition that shouts about “end of democracy” not about Clinton, this is typical manipulation